Global server shipments are expected to increase 12.8% sequentially in the third quarter of 2019 with a flat on-year performance, but shipments for all of the year are likely to drop on year due to a sharp shipment decline in the first half, according to figures from Digitimes Research's latest server tracker.

Worldwide server shipments rose 9% sequentially in the second quarter of 2019, but slipped 12.5% on year, Digitimes Research's number show.

From 2017 to the first half of 2018, most server brands saw rising inventory levels as end demand was weaker than expected, resulting in the vendors spending the second half of 2018 and the first half of 2019 digesting their excess inventory.

After leapfrogging Amazon in the first quarter of 2019, Facebook became the second-largest client of Taiwan's server sector in the second quarter, surpassing Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), with Quanta Computer and Wiwynn both enjoying rising orders from Facebook, particularly Quanta.

Quanta, Inventec and Wiwynn all saw sequential shipment growths in the second quarter of 2019 with Quanta having the biggest increase due to Google's order ramp-up, but Quanta's orders from Google still experienced an on-year drop in the quarter.

Inventec's orders from major clients all picked up sequentially in the second quarter of 2019, but its orders from Dell and HPE both shrank on year. Wiwynn's orders from the two major clients also increased sequentially, but compared to those of the same quarter a year ago, one went up, but the other went down.

China-based server brand Inspur began in-house server motherboard production at plants in Suzhou, China in June 2019 and its outsourcing to Taiwan makers are expected to drop and affect Taiwan's share of the worldwide server shipments.